The core plot follows Oscar (voiced by Will Smith), a hustling cleaner wrasse who lies about killing a shark to gain fame, and his friendship with Lenny (voiced by Jack Black), a great white shark who refuses to eat fish and hides his vegetarianism from his gangster father Don Lino (Robert De Niro). The story resolves around honesty, redemption, and family acceptance of Lenny's difference, framed as a light comedic secret rather than any explicit identity exploration.

These elements function as a straightforward 'be yourself' trope without systemic oppression or identity politics serving as the premise. The diverse voice cast, including Will Smith and Ziggy Marley, was assembled for entirely new characters with no source-material swaps or forced demographic changes. Italian-American mafia stereotypes prompted some protests at release, yet the film carries no progressive ideological framing or activist creator statements. Thematic centrality remains low, with deception, regret, and redemption driving the narrative as classic comedic devices rather than vehicles for contemporary social messaging, resulting in minimal audience reception signals tied to ideology.